More than half of UK wealth advisors say the majority of their clients' crypto holdings sit entirely outside their professional oversight, according to a survey published June 25, 2026 by digital asset manager CoinShares. The study, conducted across France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK in Q1 2026 via Citywire Engage, reveals that 52% of UK advisors reported a management gap exceeding 50% of their clients' total crypto exposure. That figure was the highest of any market surveyed and sits well above the European average of 25%.

CoinShares defines the management gap as the share of a client's digital asset holdings that falls outside the advisor's view entirely. The implications are practical: advisors cannot allocate or manage risk on assets they cannot see. "One in four wealth managers cannot see the majority of their clients' digital assets," said Jean-Marie Mognetti, Co-Founder, President and CEO of CoinShares. "Visibility comes before advice. You cannot allocate, manage risk or earn trust over assets you cannot see."

The survey's most striking finding is that firm policy, not advisor knowledge, drives the gap. Among advisors at firms that actively support digital asset activity, just 4% reported a management gap above 50%, and 48% said they actively recommend crypto to clients. At firms that restrict or ignore crypto entirely, the management gap jumped to 34%, while the active recommendation rate collapsed to 1%. Advisors at supportive firms were approximately 4.5 times more likely to actively recommend crypto to clients than those at restricted firms. CoinShares classified 61% of the firms represented in the survey as "blocked," meaning they either prohibit crypto activity or provide no guidance on it. More than 75% of advisors who described themselves as insufficiently informed about digital assets worked at those restricted firms, a pattern that suggests the knowledge deficit follows institutional restriction rather than causing it.

When asked what would change their behaviour, 45% of advisors cited regulatory recognition of digital assets as a mainstream asset class, and 43% pointed to access to exchange-traded products (ETPs). Client education ranked last, at just 9%. That ordering matters for the broader industry: the advisory channel does not unlock primarily through investor demand or advisor training. It unlocks through regulated, exchange-listed products and clear compliance frameworks.

The UK's regulatory timeline is long. Parliament passed the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026 in February 2026, but firms cannot apply for crypto authorisation until September 30, 2026, and the full regime does not come into force until October 25, 2027. The FCA proposed on June 9 to allow authorised UK retail funds to allocate up to 10% of scheme property to crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs). That consultation closes July 13, 2026 and represents the most significant near-term structural shift for UK advisors.

On the continent, the MiCA transition period closes July 1, 2026, requiring full authorisation for any crypto asset service provider operating in the EU. For European wealth managers, MiCA delivers both a clearer single market and new compliance pressure that has kept blanket firm restrictions in place while firms waited for certainty.

The gap documented in London and Frankfurt is not a European anomaly. It is a preview of conditions that are far more entrenched in other markets. Sub-Saharan Africa recorded more than $205 billion in on-chain transaction value between July 2024 and June 2025, a 52% year-on-year increase, according to Milken Institute data. Nigeria alone posts monthly crypto trading volumes above $2.4 billion, led by peer-to-peer platforms. Kenya's Virtual Asset Service Providers Act was signed into law in October 2025, and Nigeria's Investments and Securities Act 2025 formally recognised digital assets as securities. Yet neither country has a functioning framework for investment advisor oversight of client crypto holdings. The management gap CoinShares measures in Europe is the baseline condition across most of the continent.

In India, the 30% flat tax on crypto transfers introduced under the Finance Act 2022, with no provision for loss offsets, has pushed a significant portion of holdings into self-custody or offshore accounts, placing them outside any advisory relationship as a consequence of how the tax framework is structured. The UK's own elevated management gap figure also reflects a domestic dimension: the country's large South Asian diaspora community, which includes a significant high-net-worth population with substantial crypto participation and strong self-custody patterns, is a likely contributor to that 52% figure and connects European advisory blind spots directly to South Asian and Indian market dynamics. Planned integration of the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework from April 2027 will surface some offshore exchange data, but that is not the same as advisor portfolio visibility.

The near-term picture in Europe is one of cautious forward movement. The CoinShares report noted that "as recognition moves from proposal to rule over the next twelve to twenty-four months, the constraint will shift from permission to execution, and firms that take a position will see the gap narrow behind them." The 8% of advisors who described an acute problem (rising client interest combined with an unmanaged exposure above 50%) will likely grow as retail crypto ownership continues to increase regardless of what advisory firms permit. The structural incentive to formalise oversight is building, but the regulatory and institutional architecture needed to act on it is still being assembled.